The Edmonson Drive-In on Route 40 in Catonsville closed in 1991, but it had a 43-year run was a popular spot for Howard countians too, especially for Baby Boomers on date nights. It was also included in John Waters' flick, "Polyester."

Today it's the site of Home Depot, but the movie marquee is still there on the edge of Route 40. Of course, Howard County's Elkridge Drive-In is also gone, but in the Baltimore area there is still Bengies in Middle River.

"Charles Price, Movie Fan Extraordinaire.

"Charles Price is a Civil War buff, a folk singer, an animation expert — but most of all he is a movie fan. Charles, who will write a movie news and reviews column for the Times, has seen up to five movies in one day and tries to average at least seven a week. He watched them constantly on TV and finds something interesting in even a low budged 'B' pictures.

"Charles, a 22-year-old 'eligible bachelor' who lives with his parents on Frederick Road, knows movies both from study and practical experience.

"He has been to Hollywood where he 'carried a spear' as an extra in a 'Paladin' episode and roasted and froze on the desert in a low budget western."

October 1927

Shaken up

From the Times front page:

"Rev. Mr. Dibble Run Down By Auto

"Rev. D.M. Dibble, former pastor of Emory Methodist Episcopal church here and at present pastor of Hampden Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore, was run down by an automobile in front of his home last Saturday and suffered a severe shaking up and a number of very painful bruises and contusions.

"Reports of the accident stated that it was first thought that Rev. Mr. Dibble had suffered a slight fracture of the skull but after a thorough examination by physicians at Union Memorial Hospital, where he was removed immediately following the accident, this was found to be a mistake."

From the Briefs and Social Items:

"Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Percy Forsyth spent last Sunday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Dorsey near Glenwood.

"Mr. and Mrs. William B. Owings spent last week end at the home of Mrs. Hattie Stewart near Glenwood."

October 1889

His name was Mudd

"County Brevities: Mr. Sidney Mudd called at the Post Office Department Friday 18th to recommend the establishment of a new post office in Howard County, to be called Clarkson, after the First Assistant Postmaster-General. There is an office of that name already in Maryland, so Mr. Mudd's intended compliment to General Clarkson will hardly be recorded."

I believe this was Congressman Sydney Mudd, who represented the 5th District of Maryland, which then included Howard County. He was a relative of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who patched up John Wilkes Booth's leg after Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Dr. Mudd treated Booth's leg at his home in Southern Maryland. Another Booth escape route stop, as he made his way from D.C. southward, was the home and tavern of Mary Surratt, who was the woman hanged along with the men convicted in the Lincoln assassination. That house is in Clinton, Md. The Mudd site, owned by Mudd family members, is in Waldorf.

Though I've never taken the entire Booth escape route tour, one day last year I did visit both the Surratt House Museum and the Mudd House Museum. At the Mudd site, the red settee upon which Dr. Mudd initially treated Booth's leg is still there in the parlor. The home is still surrounded by farmland and the property is said to look much as it did on that April night in 1865 when Mudd was awakened to treat Booth's leg.